Spam: Not Just A Food

SPAM is a problem. When you heard the word SPAM, most people think of the canned meat. Well, that’s not the SPAM we mean. To clear up any confusion let’s go over what SPAM really is.

What is SPAM?

SPAM is a message that is irrelevant and is sent in a mass email to everyone. You know those add emails that you didn’t sign up for? That’s the junk emails that tend to fill up your email inbox unless you have the right filters set up. Gmail and Yahoo usually already have a filter, but you can mark the emails that get through as SPAM and then they will forward to your SPAM folder after that.

Where did it come from?

Let’s go over some history. Amazingly, the first mass email was sent in 1978 as an advertisement for a new DEC computer system. (For those of you, like us, that aren’t sure what a DEC computer system is, look here.) That didn’t go over well and the next broadcast didn’t happen until 1994. It has grown ever since and not in a good way. The 2000s brought the addition of malware and phishing.

What can I do to stop it?

The first thing to do is to check and make sure you set all of your email filters. Be careful and check the senders and make sure you know who is sending the email. Sometimes spammers send emails from what looks like a legitimate email. But if you see an email address that is just a jumble of numbers and letters before the @ then you can be just about certain that it’s SPAM. The other thing you can do is get with your hosting company and make sure your firewalls are set up correctly.

SPAM can be annoying and in reality, some will always get through. Spammers will find different ways to get through your defenses. But if you set up your filters and firewalls, then you can seriously reduce the amount of unwanted junk that comes to your mailbox. Next week we will dive into the newest in WordPress, the Gutenburg dashboard. We will give you the inside scoop on the pros and the cons of the Gutenburg update.